Unlike the recent Suprynowicz and Wolfe/Zelman novels – both published by small publishing houses with tiny marketing budgets that rely heavily on the kindness of online reviewers and libertarian bloggers – The Traveler comes from a publishing giant and has an aggressive marketing campaign behind it.

By all accounts The Traveler isn't a particularly well-written book, even if it is an interesting one. But it's on the New York Times bestseller list, while Vin has sold fewer than 1,500 copies of The Black Arrow after months of aggressive marketing, and RebelFire, despite its glowing five-star reviews (check out the latest one from writer George Potter) and amazing early fan support (check out the pix behind that link!), still climbs slowly toward 1,000.